The Toronto Maple Leafs organization spent some dark times in a tunnel, with the light at the other end a seeming pinhole in a black sheet. They missed playoffs from 2005 to 2013 before having their hearts ripped out in the “It was 4-1” first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins, only to miss the post-season again the next two campaigns.

Front office changes were made in 2015, new blood brought in, and these days it seems they’ve come out the other side to bask in the warming glow of favourite sun Auston Matthews.

That bleak era, in retrospect, has come to be viewed as a managerial joke. One that seemed like it would never end before mercifully coming to a close with the arrival of Brendan Shanahan.

Unfortunately for Frederik Gauthier, in Toronto, he came to be viewed as that bygone era’s final punchline.

Gauthier was drafted 21st overall in the 2013 draft, and from the outside, he all-too-perfectly symbolized the failings of the...